


Marks of Love

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Series: Flufftober 2020 [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Fluff, Multi, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26782153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: When Jace and Alec worry that giving themselves Agape runes might make Magnus feel left out, Magnus comes up with a solution of his own.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood/Jace Wayland
Series: Flufftober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949836
Comments: 16
Kudos: 58





	Marks of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Flufftober Day 2: Ink

“Hey,” Alexander says the moment Magnus walks in the door, relief obvious in his tone. Magnus doesn’t even have time to take his coat off before Jace comes out of the kitchen to join him.

“Everything alright? Your texts were extra cryptic today,” Jace points out.

Magnus notes the differences in reactions and smiles. Alec always dances around the issues first, erring on the side of caution to read the room and see if others will bring up whatever is bothering them before outright asking. Not Jace. Jace always runs head-first into any moment, and Magnus enjoys catching the ways the two Shadowhunters balance one another out in moments like this.

“Worried about me?” Magnus teases. Honestly, he just wants to take his shirt off and show them straight away, but something like this needs a bit of nuance and build up.

“A little,” Alec admits, with a sincerity that still manages to catch Magnus off-guard, the way he breaks through Magnus’ casual deflections with his honesty. “After yesterday…” Alec’s voice trails off in uncertainty.

“Ah, yes. That. Well, you’re not wrong. I did fall off the radar a bit because of your rune dilemma,” Magnus admits.

The day before Alec and Jace had come to him because they wanted to wear the mark of a Love rune - specifically, the Agape rune for unconditional love. The rune itself has no functional property, it’s purely symbolic, Magnus knows. At first, he was confused - did they think he doubted their love, or that he’d discourage a public marking to symbolize it? But no, their hesitation was that Magnus couldn’t bear runes, and they didn’t want him to feel left out or like he wasn’t an equal part of their relationship.

It’s a level of concern and consideration that leaves Magnus feeling more loved than any rune could ever properly convey. He told them as much, but they didn’t seem convinced and decided to think about it some more. He knows both of them well enough to know they’d put their own desires aside if they thought there was the slightest chance it might bother him, so he took the matter into his own hands.

Perhaps Magnus’ act today was a bit impulsive, but he stands by it 100%.

“We don’t have to-” Alec starts quickly, but pauses when Magnus holds up a hand to stop him, wincing slightly as the movement pulls on tender skin.

“Are you hurt?” Alec immediately asks instead, taking a step forward, but Magnus smiles.

“A little, but it’s willingly, I assure you,” he says, finally undoing the buttons of his dress shirt to pull the fabric away and expose a square of gauze taped over a spot on the left side of his chest, just over his heart.

Alec looks confused, but Jace’s eyes narrow with recognition. “Did you have some sort of warlock mid-life crisis?” Jace asks.

“On the contrary,” Magnus says, peeling the tape back to show the healing tattoo. It’s a tattoo of an Agape rune, etched in black ink against his skin.

“I know how important your runes are to you. And I know how important _you two_ are to me. So if not wanting me to feel excluded is going to stop you, then including myself seemed like the obvious solution.”

They both stare at him for a very long stretch of seconds before tearing their gazes from the tattoo to Magnus’ face, which is still grinning widely.

“Magnus, that’s-” Alec starts, gaping. “I can’t believe you got a _tattoo_.”

“Not you too,” Magnus groans. “Cat’s already lectured me for _ages_ when I made the mistake of asking her opinion last night.”

Jace laughs at that first, soon followed by Alec. “You were that late coming to bed because Catarina was _scolding you?_ ” Jace says, continuing to laugh through the question.

Magnus gives a dismissive hand wave. “That’s not the point here. Focus.” Magnus can’t believe he gave them that ammo so easily. He must really be slipping. “From where I’m standing, it looks like you two better give yourself those runes so we can all be equal again. Wouldn’t want me to feel like the odd man out for too long now would you?”

There’s a smug tone to his voice as he says it and Alec very briefly narrows his eyes and purses his lips, a contrast to the head shake and slight smirk of his own that Jace directs at him.

“Thank you, Magnus,” Alec says finally.

Jace’s smirk fades to a more serious expression. “Yeah, we know you did this more for us than for yourself.”

“You never have to thank me for loving you, Alexander. Either of you,” Magnus says. “And I didn’t do this for you, I did it for _us_.” He levels them both with a pointed look. “Unless you changed your minds about the runes…”

With a satisfied grin, Magnus watches them sprint off to get their steles.

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


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